The materials in our Resources section are for informational purposes only, without any representation that they are accurate or complete. These publications do not constitute legal advice and do not create an attorney-client relationship between the reader and any other person, nor are they an offer to create such a relationship. These publications are current as of the date written, but laws change over time and vary from state to state. As a result, the information presented here may not be timely and/or appropriate for any state not specifically addressed in a publication. Consult an attorney if you have questions regarding the content of any publication.

If you are providing parking to your employees on your own property, on leased property, or on a nearby parking lot, or if you are providing MARTA passes to employees, whether you are paying directly for these benefits or providing them through a pre-tax deduction to your employees’ pay, there may be tax implications for your organization under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. This article will provide you with information about the potential tax implications for nonprofits that provide these benefits to their employees, and includes updated information from the IRS on this subject.

The government shutdown has impacted some government agencies and services that are typically used by or interact with nonprofit employers. The purpose of this article is to inform you of the current situation involving various federal agencies with which you may have contact.

Ellen Samuels and Anu Seam recently joined PBPA’s Board of Directors. Ellen is Law Vice President and Division General Counsel at NCR and Anu is Assistant Vice President-Senior Legal Counsel at AT&T.

Ellen Samuels has been advising our nonprofit clients on contracts since 2014. While Ellen has been interested in PBPA for many years, she was excited to finally start picking up projects when she moved with NCR from Dayton, Ohio to Duluth, and now Midtown. Her duties at NCR include supporting a broad range of technology transactions and legal challenges and overseeing a small global team of transactional technology lawyers. Previously she was a partner at a mid-sized law firm in Cincinnati, Ohio. She attended the University of Cincinnati for undergrad and law school. In addition to PBPA, Ellen is active in volunteering at Historic Norcross events and for the Orange Duffle Bag Foundation (a PBPA client).

“I am honored to be invited to join the PBPA Board. I love the organization’s mission and the value it provides to transactional lawyers and to the non-profits it serves,” said Ellen.

Anu Seam has been volunteering with PBPA for almost 10 years. She has also been on the cutting edge of technology and law for many years with extensive experience at AT&T, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Communications Commission and the Minnesota Attorney General’s office. Anu supports AT&T’s Global Connections Management team and is responsible for negotiating complex domestic and international business contracts. She is also co-chair of AT&T’s Southeast Pro Bono Committee. She attended Delhi University Law Center and William Mitchell College of Law in Minnesota. In addition to PBPA, Anu is active with the Georgia Asian Pacific American Bar Association (Past President and Board Member) and with the Association of Corporate Counsel – Georgia Chapter (Past Board Member).(more…)

“Sara, this is perfect. Thank you so much for working so diligently on this project with me, and for taking the time to add so much more than I had even anticipated to make this a valuable and effective tool for our volunteers. It has been an absolute privilege to work with you and I can’t tell you enough how grateful I am for all that you’ve done for us.”

“We’re very grateful for your guidance and information to ensure we have the best and legal representation of our food bank on the website. Your assistance is priceless! Based on this, we’re confident that this matter is completed.”

“I am grateful for you, your legal expertise, and the time and care you so graciously extended to Circle of Friends dissolution. Your guidance throughout this process allowed my team and me to stay focused on transitioning from the beloved community with grace, dignity, and excellent standing.

In twenty days, you helped us turn twenty years of service to children, community, and country into a legacy with the establishment of the Circle of Friends Impact Scholarship Fund through the Century Challenge at Boston University.”

“Your time and expertise have been such a blessing to our agency. Our board and myself included, are truly excited to have such sound bylaws as our foundation. Thank you for partnering with us as we empower at-risk families so that every child will be able to grow up in a stable and nurturing home.”

Community Guilds is an Atlanta-based nonprofit committed to closing inequities and catalyzing transformation by providing experiential learning to teachers and students. The core program of Community Guilds, STE(A)M Truck, has been on the road since 2013. STE(A)M Truck is a mobile makerspace that provides a rigorous, experiential learning-based curriculum to students from 4 years old to teen. STE(A)M stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics. The program offers students opportunities to get their hands dirty and build things using tools and technology.

Community Guilds collaborates with local schools and teachers to run STE(A)M Truck. The typical program lasts for 20 days, but there are also 1-day to 120-day programs, tailored to the needs of the school. Community Guilds targets Title 1 schools – schools with a high percentage of students from low-income families. The nonprofit has served 11,525 students so far this year. Community Guilds especially encourages female students to participate. According to Executive Director Jason Martin, Community Guilds wants to empower female students in STEM and change the male stereotype of STEM degrees.

Jason wants to spread the word about Community Guilds and have more schools to participate in the STE(A)M Truck program in the future. The organization is also developing a high school apprenticeship program to expose teenagers to different STEM careers, like drone operation.

Community Guilds has been a client of Pro Bono Partnership of Atlanta since 2013. Jason shared “Rachel [Spears] serves as our guardian angel. She provides very important guidance and support. All of the attorneys who have given their resources also help us a lot with our developments.”

Discovering that you have Parkinson’s Disease can be devastating. Larry Kahn knows first-hand; his own diagnosis came in 2010. PD is an incurable, progressive neurological disease and, until five years ago, most people receiving this diagnosis viewed it as a death sentence. To Larry, an author and corporate attorney, the thought of slowing down didn’t sit well. Then he discovered something that was not widely known: emerging research suggested vigorous exercise can combat Parkinson’s progression and improve quality of life.

In January 2014, with this knowledge in hand, Larry founded PD Gladiators. Its mission: combat Parkinson’s with vigorous exercise. The organization developed a network of independent fitness instructors, including the YMCA of Metro Atlanta, who take specialized training and offer fitness classes modified for individuals with Parkinson’s Disease that are both effective in treating the disease and sustainable. Classes include non-contact boxing, tai chi, yoga, dance and general fitness. Through the exercise programs, participants across Greater Atlanta become connected to others managing the disease. This support network is another critical component of PD Gladiator’s success.

In the summer of 2014, PD Gladiators became a Pro Bono Partnership of Atlanta client. Over the next few years, Senior Corporate/Tax Counsel Robyn Miller and PBPA volunteers advised Larry and PD Gladiators on worker classification, contracts and liability releases with local fitness providers, fundraising and sponsorship agreements, and volunteer management.

In 2016, PD Gladiators approached PBPA about merging with a national organization that serves people with Parkinson’s. It was a good prospect for advancing the mission with additional resources and program support. PBPA enlisted Brian Galison, Christie Jones, and Jay Collins from Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough to guide Larry and his board through the process. Unfortunately, the merger fell through when the two organizations could not agree to terms.

Larry approached PBPA a year later with the prospect of another merger with a different national Parkinson’s organization. The original Nelson Mullins team jumped into action and within 12 months the two organizations worked out their terms and successfully merged. Now PD Gladiators is a program of the Parkinson’s Foundation. Larry will continue to serve on the Parkinson’s Foundation’s local Advisory Council and to serve the Parkinson’s community.

As the merger was being finalized, Larry wrote to Brian Galison and Christie Jones at Nelson Mullins, “I cannot express enough my gratitude, which is shared by our Board of Directors, for your pro bono assistance and to Nelson Mullins and Pro Bono Partnership of Atlanta for facilitating your good work. You have guided me through two of these transactions in the last couple of years with patience, expertise, humor and kindness, and you never made me feel less important than a paying client, although I have tried my best not to take unfair advantage of your generosity. Thank you for everything–your efforts have saved a program that hundreds of people with Parkinson’s disease love and have made my efforts over the past five years lasting and worthwhile.”

“Thank you so much, Rena, for your hard work. You were a delight and we are so appreciative of your skill, your talent and your heart.”
To: Ryan Kerr, Arnall Golden Gregory
From: Ruth’s Cottage

“We finalized our newly revised Financial Operational Policies and Procedures Manual with a new section of “Gift Acceptance”, thanks to your help. It did take a while to get our committee together and moving on this but we finally have what we feel is a much better plan for receiving gifts properly. Your help was also so timely as we conduct our capital campaign for a new building and just this week a local supporter of ours has donated a 10K Wolf Oven and Range for the new building! We have clear direction on exactly how to handle such a gift, thanks to you Ryan.”

“On behalf of the Resource Center for Community Action and staff, we are more than grateful for the time that you have put in to resolve the shed matter in Rockdale county. There were many times I wanted to scream but you never gave up the fight to find legal solutions. Thank you for all you’ve done. You are a GREAT attorney!”

“Mark has been such a great person to help us. I know you all know this but the way your volunteers help the nonprofit world is so important. It really makes a huge difference for small organizations like ours to know that we have someone who we can get high quality, professional advice from.”

“Thank you so much for sending Ballard our way. He was very patient with me and did his best on our behalf even though we were a pro bono case. Words are inadequate to express our gratitude for all involved.”

“We appreciate you for volunteering your time and legal expertise to write the policies and procedures. Having legal and written documentation of all policies will help Kids Video Connection operate more effectively.”

“Thank you for your tremendous generosity and willingness to share your talent with GLISI in service of our mission. We cannot be more grateful for your counsel and will strive every day to make your contribution of expertise and time pay off through effectively growing school and district leaders to give every Georgia child the opportunity to realize dreams for a bright future.”

“On behalf of North Fulton Community Charities, I want to thank you for your legal assistance with a revision and update of NFCC’s Articles of Incorporation and our Bylaws. I’m happy to report that our Board approved the updates in February and we received notice today the State approve the updated articles in May.

We appreciate your willingness to undertake this project and your promptness and patience in response to our questions.”

“I spoke with Scott Edwards this morning and went over the Conflict of Interest document he drew up for Team Maggie. We are very happy to have this in place and can not thank you (Pro Bono Partnership) and Scott Edwards enough for all you have done to help us put best practices in place.”

“Thank you for your patience and your assistance with this manual. I have finally received feedback from all concerned and it is good. A few of the numbers have been changed but the manual is approved and is being implemented.

We are so blessed to have the service of volunteers like yourself, we could not afford to have this done, and we thank you and wish you continued success in all that you do.”